Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 Beta launched

If you’re a fan of Lightroom, Adobe’s popular RAW conversion and image editing suite, and you’ve been eagerly awaiting a new version, it’s official: your wait is over.

In a headline announcement at midnight, Adobe made a beta version of the software’s latest edition – Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 – available to the public. Version 2.0 provides several key upgrades over the original release of Lightroom, including new corrections capabilities, better image organization tools, and more thought-out integration with Photoshop.

Late last week, Adobe demoed Lightroom 2.0 for members of the press, showing off the new system’s expanded power. Specifically, the maker touted the software’s 64-bit system support, as well as the ability to perform localized corrections.

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Flexible multiple monitor support allows users to keep the primary Lightroom interface on one screen and use the other display to dock a multi-function pane that houses several functions (including a detail-view "loupe" tool).

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Print production tools allow photographers to create quick and easy proof sheets or pages with multiple prints on a single sheet.

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Just like the original Lightroom release, in which the final version of the software was fine-tuned based on the input of more than half a million beta testers, version 2.0 is being given a five-month test window to gather user feedback. Lightroom 1.0 users can download and use the new beta version for the full trial period (through August 31, 2008), as can guests of Lightroom 1.0 users that are "invited" to the beta program. All other users can download a 30-day trial of Lightroom 2.0 at any time during the beta period.